Today I cried for the first time...

Today I cried for the very first time when reading a book in Luxembourgish. 

<<“...Deng schéin Aen hunn ech mäi Liewe laang net vergiess.”

“Abee, meng schéin Aen dénge mer haut net méi vill. Ech sinn hallef blann an et gëtt ëmmer méi schlëmm.”

“Ma dann ass et jo gutt, dass ech hei sinn, fir dir ze hëllefen”, huet d’Emelie geschmunzelt. >>

I truly enjoyed reading the book called “‘t ass d’Liewen!” which presents life through the eyes of a former school teacher, now retired, at a time when she joins an “Oldieshaus”. It is a beautiful reading about the physical and emotional passage for a woman who still feels young, even though now in her last stage of life. But any day of life, no matter the age, is a gift that should be fully enjoyed because it is unique and special and cannot be kept in stock for tomorrow.
One one of the beautiful messages of the book is that Love is, without any doubt and at any age, what motivates us and keeps us going. Sharing the time with someone we love and who loves us as well, caring about each other, taking care of each other, what better gift can we receive from life?

To all those of you who regularly ask me about ways to improve your Luxembourgish, reading is an activity that will very much help you with your written but also general comprehension of the language, it will help you see a lot of examples of how the sentences are structured and it will allow you to enlarge your vocabulary on a regular basis. To give you an example: only a few months ago I learned the word Schicksal, which means destiny, fate. I never heard it in a conversation or on TV and finding its plural in this book made me very happy (which is a great feeling, especially after having cried minutes before...): “Lues a lues huet si vill interessant Leit mat verschiddene Schicksaler kenne geléiert.”

I warmly recommend you to read the book ‘t ass d’Liewen! by Christiane Ehlinger, Kremart Editions, 2,99 eur. You should ideally have a minimum A2 level in Luxembourgish.

Ganz schéinen Dag!

Luxembourg and Leonardo in Claudio’s eyes

Yesterday was a very busy day for art lovers with not less than three different art exhibitions being launched in Luxembourg, at least three I was personally invited to. I wish I could have attended all, however have chosen to be present at my long term friend, Claudio’s opening which took place at Pianos Klebber, a piano shop in the city center. This allowed Claudio’s friend, John Lippis, to play a short piece to accompany the beautiful dancers coming out of the paintings.

I personally love Claudio Rosati’s abstract work and my favorite yesterday was “La cadutta del euro” (the falling of the euro), and you might notice Luxembourg’s position above the chaos, as Claudio pointed out to me when we admired together my favorite of his paintings.

Recently included in Italy’s best art catalogue, Mondadori, (which is an enormous recognition of his talent), I genuinely admire Claudio’s artistic path and the fantastic visibility he has in Italy, much more than in Luxembourg. I’m happy when one can follow his passion, create and exhibit. You can read more about him and his work on his website: Claudio Rosati

His admiration for Leonardo da Vinci prompted Claudio to dedicate yesterday’s opening to the 500th anniversary of Leonardo’s passing away. Thus, not only did he exhibit ten pieces dedicated to some of da Vinci’s most known paintings, but he also lighted some special candles to keep his memory alive.

Special cake for special person! Women entrepreneurs in Luxembourg - part 2

For the special people in our life, we always want something special so that they know how loved and appreciated they are, that they matter. Even so when it is the birthday of a loved one. Those of us talented enough will choose to bake themselves a special cake, but if you are not so talented in baking and decorating cakes, the next good thing is to rely on passionate and creative people who can assist us and create a wonderful product for us.

Last month I have chosen to test the talent of a young woman passionate by baking cakes. She recently created a brand called Sweet instincts that you can find on facebook with some of her creations. You can see below the special lady the cake was made for and how happy she was with her special cake...

What I liked about Kàey's USP (unique selling proposition) :

- the design is very beautiful, perfect to get a "waw" effect; she will send you several proposals to choose from, unless you have a clear idea of how the cake should look like;

- she uses quality products;

- the cakes are super tasty (but of course, the taste will highly depend on what product combination one will choose); with chocolate and vanilla, my cake was so fantastic that nothing got througn away! As you can see in the picture below, I even brought some at the Conservatoire where I met a dear friend for coffee;

- it was good value for money: count between 100 and 150 eur for a cake for 8 people with a unique design and depending on what products get used for;

- she pays attention to allergies (which is very important to me). 

What could eventually be improved: 
- I felt overwhelmed by the amount of questions asked about the design, type of dought, filling... To facilitate clients' choices, I would suggest a form for customers to fill in, with different options/elements to be selected. I personally have no idea how many types of cake dought exist so it would very helpful to see them listed and just choose from the list. A different section for allergies can also be included, as well as for design, color preferences etc,
- one has to plan the trip to Schifflange to collect the cake, no delivery service is available, which can be problematic for super busy people like myself; but the distance is not too big so it was ok to go get the cake in the morning of day the birthday party was planned for.  

I personally recommend Kàey's cakes and you will probably also appreciate her willingness to do whatever it takes to make you happy and create the most beautiful and tastiest cake for you; in addition, it will be unique like the person you will offer it to!
I wish you continued success, Kàey!